Psalm 61:3

Monday, April 28, 2014

Small
schools are falling on hard times.A
while back Governor Quinn announced that he believed Illinois needed to cut
back, dramatically, on the number of school districts.Whether you agree with him or not, you have
to admit, that is not going to be a good thing for small schools.The smaller the school, the more likely it is
to be consolidated.

Whatever
the governor’s, or the government’s, plans may be I believe that all citizens
should take interest in their local public school.Each one of us benefits from the public
school system in the United States.And
I write this as the pastor of a Lutheran congregation that operates a parochial
(non-public) grade school.

I do
not think that a public school education is appropriate for all students.I send my children to our Lutheran
school.Yet I also believe that our
local communities benefit from having small, locally governed public schools.

Hoyleton
Grade School is a great example of this benefit.First, it benefits our Lutheran school to
have a small public school right down the street.The public school provides services to
students who wish to have a Lutheran, Christ –centered education, but need a
little extra help with speech or reading, extra help that the parochial school
would be hard pressed to provide.

Our two
schools have a long history of cooperation.We have a long standing sports cooperative agreement.Our students ride their bus.We advertise their fundraisers in our church
bulletin.Several members of our
congregation serve as members of the HGS board.It is easier for our school to get what limited state funds are
available to us through the smaller, less bureaucratic, local public school
than it would be if the district were much larger.I believe both schools benefit from this
close arrangement.

Second,
a small, local, public school benefits the local community too.Just as public school is not for everyone,
Lutheran school may not be suitable for all either.While our school will accommodate any student
that we can, not all will choose to attend.For whatever reason, public school is the best option for some families.

When a
student can attend classes a few blocks from home in a school operated by their
close neighbors and people who share their values, the whole community is
strengthened.When a parent is likely to
run into the board chairman at the grain elevator it is likely that the
chairman will want to keep families happy.When the school board is small and the community is small, one voice
(your voice) counts much more than in a larger area. It is easier to influence the education
system when it is small and local.

This,
of course, is not to mention any of the benefits of having a well-educated society.Education is good.I think we can all agree on that.

I am
not suggesting that a public school always does everything right, or that those
who run public schools (or any schools for that matter) need our uncritical
praise.I am suggesting that if you have
a small, local public school, you will miss it when it is gone, whether you
have children there or not.

So get
involved.Influence the board of your
local school to have the best public education that there can be for your
community.If your children go to a
parochial school, count the blessings of having a good relationship with the
public school.There are probably
blessings that you don’t always see.Support and encourage those who fight to keep these local schools
open.There is much work that goes on
behind the scenes.Be a friend to the
teachers who work with the local students.They are guiding and teaching your neighbors.

I do
not know what the future holds for the small, local, public school.I am, however, thankful for their past work,
and I am trying to do my small part to encourage them in the present.

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

I read a blog post recently from a self-professed narcissist. It was a confession of sorts written by a woman who has been cheating on her husband who happens to be a soldier deployed overseas. He is a military hero and she is running around behind his back, apparently with several men, and is planning on divorcing him when he gets back.

As bad, as horrifying, as that all sounds, that is not really what shocked me. What got to me was the fact that the people commenting on her post were all very supportive. They thanked her for being honest words. They were glad that she gave it to them "raw".

The problem is that giving words of support to a person who is engaged in such wantonly destructive behavior is not only unhelpful, but dishonest. It is ultimately unloving and even hateful.

Let's try an exercise. Let's try to apply this attitude to other ethical situations.

"I murdered three people yesterday."
"I love your honesty."

"I knocked over an ATM. I felt guilty, but, oh well."
"Thanks for being so raw with us."

"I drugged a girl and raped her."
"Your truthfulness is admirable."

See, this line of thinking just does not work. You cannot simply commend someone for their honesty and leave it at that. There is another action required: an honest response, and one that is helpful to the person.

I know, I am a guy, and guys have this tendency to want to try and fix things. But I cannot read a post like this and simply say that I am glad the author was honest. I need to be honest with them.

"You are ruining your life."

"Get some professional help."

"Turn yourself into the authorities."

"Repent and believe the Gospel!"

A conversation cannot be truly honest is only one person is speaking the truth. Affirmations of their honesty might as well just be dead silence. If we are going to be honest we must speak the truth for their sake.

Monday, April 21, 2014

In the final phrases of the
Nicene Creed we confess that we are looking “for the resurrection of the dead
and the life of the world to come.”My
question for you this Easter is: “How hard are you looking?”

Are
your eyes constantly fixed upon the horizon, joyfully awaiting the resurrection
of the dead and the life of the world to come?Are you eagerly anticipating the day when Jesus will reveal Himself to
the world as its Lord and Savior?Or,
like most people, do you have bigger fish to fry?

The
Resurrection of our Lord is a foretaste of the feast to come.He has conquered death itself and so He
guarantees that we too will rise upon His return.And so we should always be looking forward to
that day.We are to look for it with
fervent hope.

Taking
our eyes off of Jesus, taking our eyes off the prize, has devastating
consequences for our lives here and now.It has a cost for the Church, and for the world in which we dwell.

When
we are not looking for Jesus to return, when we are not awaiting the
resurrection, then we get lost.We lose
sight of our calling in this world, and we fall into blatant sin.

We
fail to take seriously the commands of God.We forget that we are called to purity and holiness, and so we end up
looking like the rest of the world around us.We absorb and adopt worldly attitudes toward life, marriage, wealth, and
success.We seek revenge.We look for security and pleasure in places
where we will never find it enough.

But
there are other ways in which this loss of direction manifests itself.When we lose sight of the resurrection of the
dead and the life of the world to come we begin to get bored, especially with
Church and the Gospel.

Why
do I have to come to Church?If we are asking that question, then we have
lost sight of the resurrection.When the
forgiveness of our sins, the announcement of God’s grace, the singing of His
Gospel bores us, then we have lost our bearings.

And
there is always fear, particularly the fear of death.We lose our way and we start to think that
the grave is final, it is “goodbye”.We
lose sight of the fact that we will rise as Jesus has risen, and so we worry
about how “short” life is.When we stop
looking for the resurrection, the only thing we can see is death, and nothing
beyond it.

The death and resurrection of our Lord
Jesus Christ is the most significant event in the history of the world.It has changed everything.Jesus
lives!Christ is risen!And His resurrection directs our attention to
our own resurrection.It entices our
gaze away from the doldrums of this world onto the glory of the world to come.

The
cross and empty tomb have removed our sin.Every instance of losing our way, each time that we have gotten off
course because we have stopped looking to the future that Christ will surely
give, has been forgiven.

The
Holy Spirit moves our eyes to see Jesus returning in triumph, and that colors
everything we do here and now.Life is
not simply a chemical accident that is here today and gone tomorrow.It is the intentional creation of God,
redeemed from death by Christ to endure forever.Your neighbor is no longer just another
person, but a person for whom Christ died and rose, a person who will live
forever, wither with Jesus or without Him.

We
can take our eyes off ourselves and truly learn to love and serve others
because our future is set.We can lay
aside vengeance trusting that Jesus will return to judge all things.We can rest secured that even though we die,
yet shall we live.Jesus gives us
confidence to lay aside temporary and fleeting pleasures now because we will
receive never ending joy in the resurrection.

When
the Spirit turns our eyes to the resurrection and the world to come Church
becomes much less boring.You don’t have to attend Church.You get
to.Jesus invites you to receive His
gifts at Church every single week to give you a blessed hope that will endure
through death.

The
forgiveness of your sins, the proclamation of the good news, the singing of the
hymns, these are not done for God’s good, but for yours.Jesus is reassuring you that He is coming
back and that when He does He will judge you to be righteous and
blameless.

And
because of that reality there is no need to fear death, at least not as the
world does.Jesus has conquered.He has
triumphed over every single inch of the grave.You may die, but Jesus will raise you up on
the last day.You may go into the grave,
but Jesus will call you out.

When the Spirit
helps us to look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to
come we know that life is not short, it is eternal.Death is not “goodbye”.Death is defeated.

Jesus
gives us eyes to see what the world cannot see, to see Him still at work
through His Word, to see Him revealed on the Last Day, to look for the
resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.

Like
a ship navigating the waters of this earth by following the North Star, so we
Christians are to gain our bearings from keeping our eyes fixed upon the coming
of our Lord Jesus.He is coming soon,
and we are to be ready, letting the day of His return and the day of our
resurrection be the guiding star of our lives.

We
will now allow Dr Luther to direct our gaze:

“But for this we are baptized, for
this we hear the Gospel and believe in Christ, that we may set aside all these
vocations…and turn from this world to another existence and life where there is
neither servant nor master, neither maid nor mistress, neither wife nor
husband, but where we are altogether equal and one in Christ Jesus, which
equality begins here in faith, but yonder is made perfect in sight, where there
is no death, but only eternal and imperishable life, no sin, but only
righteousness and innocence, no fear nor sorrow, but only security and joy, no
dominion nor authority nor power, but God alone will be All in All; in short,
where God and Christ Himself is with all His elect and saints.Unto this eternal life we have been baptized,
unto this life Christ has redeemed us by His blood and death, and to reach this
life we have received the Gospel.” (Pieper, Christian Dogmatics, vol III, p86)

It
is the work of the Holy Spirit to keep our eyes trained upon the dawning of the
glory of God.Through the work of the
Gospel He will do it.May your eyes
always be fixed upon the dawn of that new day.Amen.

Sunday, April 6, 2014

Jesus loved Lazarus enough to
raise him from the dead.Jesus knew what
it would cost Him.He knew there would
be consequences.But He did it
anyway.He freed Lazarus from the bonds
of death, and submitted to them Himself.

The
resurrections that Jesus performs amplify as you move through the 4
Gospels.In Matthew and Mark we are told
of Jesus reviving a little girl, the daughter of Jairus, who’s death was so
recent she was still lying in her bed.In Luke Jesus interrupts a funeral procession that is on its way to the
burial site and gives life back to the only son of a widow.

In
John’s Gospel we learn of Lazarus, who has been dead, not for several hours,
but for several days, 4 days to be exact.Lazarus has been lying in the strong bands of death for half of a
week.His body has already begun to
decay.

There
is no way that this is an accident, no way that this is a coincidence.There is no way that Lazarus has been asleep
or in a coma.4 days sealed in a tomb
would be the death of anyone, even if they were alive when they went in.Lazarus was the prisoner of death.There are no two ways about it.

But
that is nothing to Jesus.He cares
nothing for the power of death to bind us.He cares only for the power of God to set men free from its grasp.The stone is rolled away.Jesus prays to His heavenly Father, so that
all those present might know that God is at work.And Jesus calls His dead friend by name,
“Lazarus, come out.”

And
“the man who had died came out.”The
dead man walked out of his tomb.Can you
imagine?The astonishment of the
crowd.The jubilation of Martha and
Mary, his sisters.

As
if to make things final, Jesus has one last bit of instruction: “Unbind him,
and let him go.”We assume, of course,
that Jesus is talking about the burial clothes.But those words apply just as well to death itself.Jesus commands the grave: unbind him.Let him go.And death submits.

This
is a triumphant day for Jesus and for his friends.Mary, Martha, and Lazarus rejoice at his
newfound freedom from death.He was a
prisoner to death, but now he is free.

As
I said earlier, however, this was not without its cost.This was simply too big of a miracle.It was too public and too close to Jerusalem,
the center of Jewish power.Jesus first
miracle was harmless, turning water into wine.Most people were probably too drunk by then to notice anyway.And it was far away, at Cana in Galilee.

This
was close.Many Jews had gathered for
the funeral rites.Everyone was very
sober, very alert.A Jew does not open a
grave without everyone taking notice.The chains of death were loosed.The bonds of the grave were shattered.And everyone saw it.

The
Jewish leadership could not let this go.The Pharisees and the priests, two groups who did not normally trust one
another, get together to discuss what they should do now.“If we let Him go on like this, everyone
will believe in Him!”

Then
Caiaphas, the chief priest, speaks under the influence of the Holy Spirit.Unknown to himself he delivers God’s own
pronouncement of how this must all end.“It
is better for you that one man should die for the people.”

This
is what it cost Jesus to raise Lazarus.It cost Him His life.This
miracle, so blatant, so brazen, so amazing, attracted too much attention, and
the chief priest had to squash it. Jesus
must die.

Yet
this is to be expected.This is exactly
what Jesus says that He will do.He is
the Good Shepherd.What does the Good
Shepherd do?He lays down His life for
the sheep.Jesus loosed Lazarus from the
grave knowing full well that it would put Him in His own.Jesus died so that Lazarus might live.

Jesus
died so that others might live.Jesus
died for Lazarus.But He also died for
you.For me.

Death
is a reality that looms large for us all.It strikes at different times and in different circumstances.For many of you death has had a very real
impact here very recently.Whether it is
watching an elderly relative suffer through a prolonged illness, or having a
loved one taken with nearly no warning at all, death is there.

Death
is a reality because of sin.We die, not
because we are being punished for anything we have specifically done, but
because of the curse that lays on all the world.All have sinned and therefore all die.When we attend a funeral it slaps us in the
face.If there were no sin they would
not have died.If I were not a sinner, I
would have no reason to fear death.

Just
as Jesus called Lazarus from the grave knowing that it would cost Him His life,
Jesus went to His death knowing that it would result in our resurrection.When His blood filled the debt of sin that we
owe, death lost the power to lay hold of us.Jesus has set us free from death.He has loosed us from the bonds of the grave.

“I am the resurrection and the
life.Whoever believes in me, though he
die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never
die.”

Jesus
gives life to all who believe in Him, and that life begins now.Jesus’ death and resurrection transforms the
death of the Christian from a thing of punishment and finality into a doorway
from one moment into the next.

Don’t
get me wrong, death remains a painful doorway.It is still the enemy to be fought against.But it is a defeated enemy, a tamed evil,
that can no longer hold us captive as it once did.

Those who die in
Jesus do not cease to exist.They do not
receive punishment as their sins deserve.They are not separated from the Lord Jesus Christ for a single moment.

Because
of what Jesus has done, because He has died for us, when we die our body does
go into the ground and our spirits rests in the heavenly presence of
Christ.

And
on the Last Day, when He returns, Jesus will command death: “Unbind them, and
let them go!”And He will call you by
name saying: “My friend, come out.”So
you too shall rise.

The
resurrection of Lazarus is just a glimpse of the greatness of that Last
Day.It is a sneak peak of the glory
that will be accomplished when Jesus bursts the bonds of every grave on this
planet.

The
price that Jesus paid to set Lazarus free is the same price He has paid for you
and me.Just as He called Lazarus out
from the tomb, so He will call you.And
you shall rise.